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Aish NY Poland Adventure
Wednesday May
30, 2007
Arrive in
Warsaw at 1:55pm
Start by visiting
the famous Warsaw cemetery filled with the ornate tombs of wealthy
prominent Jews and well-known Rabbis, political figures and influential leaders
while also visiting unmarked mass graves of Jews who died in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Continue on to the Umschlagplatz, the area from which the Jews of Warsaw
were deported to the Treblinka Death Camp.
Continue on to the
Mila 18 bunker, the last one remaining from the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising, and the Rapaport Monument, both of which are testament to the
Jewish uprisings in defiance of the Nazis. Visit the Jewish Museum and
the Nozyc Synagogue, the only remaining active synagogue in Warsaw.
Dinner will be in
the Jewish Community Building with a business representative of today’s
Jewry in Poland.
Stay over in
Warsaw
Thursday May
31, 2007
Travel to the
Shtetl of Tikitchyn and Lopochowa – the inspiration for Fiddler on the Roof, and
see one of Poland’s most beautiful synagogues. Walk through the town as you
learn the tragic story of its inhabitants.
Drive alongside the
train tracks to the Treblinka Death Camp, the scene of the annihilation
of 870,000 Jewish people. The striking memorial at Treblinka is a display
of 17,000 stones each with the name of a city or town, to remember the 17,000
people who were killed daily in the camp.
Drive to Lublin
Stay over in
Lublin
Friday June
1, 2007
Start the day with
a visit to Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin, the once Yale and Harvard of the
Torah world. It was here that Rabbi Shapira established the 7-year cycle by
which some Jews learn one page of Talmud a day.
Visit the
Madjanek Death Camp, which is still intact, giving a shockingly full image
of what it looked like when it was operational.
Time permitting
stop in Krasnik, a small town which
was the site of the Budzyn labor camp.
Here the prisoners worked for the Hermann Goring Werke on aircraft production. Krasnik
is also home to the only 2 shuls
in Poland linked by tunnels.
Drive to Krakow.
Prepare for Shabbat
and join together for Kabbalat Shabbat in one of the Jewish Quarter synagogues.
Enjoy a festive dinner with the Jewish students of Krakow.
Shabbat June
2, 2007
Take the
opportunity to attend services in the historic Rema synagogue, followed by a
light Kiddush.
The group will have
a session with Dov Schlein on Anti-Semitism and Safra Bank before enjoying a
communal lunch.
Spend the afternoon
on a walking tour of the Kazimisz Quarter of Krakow, home to the
Jewish community.
Join together for a
talk on “Why the Jews” by Rabbi Adam Jacobs followed by 3rd meal (Seudah
Shlishit), and a musical Shabbat Conclusion (Havdallah). Afterwards enjoy a
quiet (or not so quiet) evening in the cafes of Jewish Krakow.
Sunday June
3, 2007
Take a formal tour
of the Auschwitz and Birkenau, with opportunities to go into
various barracks, crematoria and other structures that have remained for over 60
years. The group will be given time to reflect individually as well as
participate in a memorial service. From there continue to the museum of
Osweinsin.
Dinner with one of
the “Righteous Among the Nations”, gentile rescuers who have been
recognized for their compassion, courage and morality because they risked their
own lives to save the lives of Jews.
Monday June 4
, 2007
Visit the ancient
and famous Rema Synagogue and the cemetery next to it in which among
other people, the famous Rabbi Moshe Isserles is buried. Isserles wrote the
Ashkenazic overlay to the Sephardic Law Code Shulhan Aruch. Go the factory of
Schindler’s List.
Meander around
modern Krakow, which has been gentrified into the SoHo of Poland.
Travel to the
town of Plashov.
Nothing remains of
the concentration camp at Plashov. The land is now a memorial to the
people lost, as a giant monument stands on the highest hill.
The Plashov camp was originally designed to be a work camp for the nearby
cities. However, like many other Nazi camps, shortages of food existed, and many
prisoners starved to death or were killed by the guards.
Leave June 4
from Krakow and arrive in NY at 9pm June 4, 2007
For more information, please contact:
Dalya Craus
(212) 579-1388 ext 31
dcraus@aish.com
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